Long Beach Recommendations
 

Hi all,

Have 2 nights in December with the family before boarding a cruise out of the terminal by Long Beach CA.

Looking around at hotels - there's the Marriott Redonda and the Renaissance Long Beach. Anyone have recommendations?

2 adults, 2 grandparents, 2 kids (3 and 5).

Ideally a great club lounge with breakfast and hors d'oeurves would be great.

I assume you're departing from the Carnival Cruise Terminal in Long Beach, not from the San Pedro World Cruise Terminal.

In addition to the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel, which you noted, there are a number of other Marriott Bonvoy properties closer to the Carnival Cruise Terminal than the Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach.

The closest is the Residence Inn Long Beach Downtown. Other Marriott Bonvoy properties in Long Beach are The Westin Long Beach, Courtyard Long Beach Downtown, Residence Inn Long Beach, Long Beach Marriott, and Courtyard Long Beach Airport.

The only one of these I've stayed at was the Long Beach Marriott, which is by Long Beach Airport, not by the cruise port. Still, it's closer than Torrance / Redondo Beach. It's been quite a few years, but I remember that the hotel made a good impression on me, with everything I would expect at a full-service Marriott.

Lounge Access (at the brands that provide this benefit) is officially for one Platinum Elite (or above) member, plus one additional guest occupying the same room. According to the Terms & Conditions, "Additional charges may apply for Lounge Access where the guest count is greater than the Member plus one allowance (including children)." The lounge attendant is likely to look the other way for young children, but not for two additional adults -- unless one of them is also a Platinum Elite (or above) member, occupying and paying for a separate room.

I would look into 2-bedroom/2-bathroom suite at the Residence Inn Long Beach Downtown (with each adult couple getting a bedroom and the kids getting the living room sofa bed). I'm not familiar with this particular Residence Inn, but other Residence Inns served us well when our kids were that age. Everyone gets breakfast, without the issue of club lounge access. There are usually refreshments in the evening.

If you have some extra time in Long Beach, especially with children, you might want to add the Aquarium of the Pacific to your plans. It's a top-notch aquarium.

Have a fine hotel stay and then a great cruise. Bonvoy and then Bon Voyage!

Hello Erome,

I stayed at the Renaissance in Long Beach and would recommend it. This was my one and only trip to Long Beach so I cannot offer comments on other hotels around there. While they did have a lounge, it was closed while I was there and when I asked the front desk manager about it, he informed me that they had no projected reopen date and seemed to think that it might not reopen at all.

I did, however, get the free breakfast for my wife and I. I was travelling with a colleague whose husband was also with us. At check-in, I asked about extending the breakfast privilege to their room. The front desk manager on duty at that point rejected my request. When I asked a different manager the next day, he accepted.

The location was good for our purposes since we were attending a tradeshow that was across the street. There probably are other Marriott hotels in Long Beach that offer better locations…

You could go South just a bit and stay at five star luxury at many of the Laguna Beach hotels.

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What's up with this property? 2.5 star

The Renaissance just went through a major year long renovation and rebranded as a Marriott. Renovations were still going on in the first quarter of 2024 so there are always complaints around that when parts of the hotel are under constructions and amenities are not fully functional. That should be over now so the ratings should improve over time.

Which hotel in the Long Beach area has the best hard product assuming you don't really care about amenities like lounge etc? Purely just need a place to sleep.

What makes for a good hard product if you aren't considering amenities?

Clean and modern room. No musty old carpet. Comfy bed good lights.

+1.

Definitely not the old Marriott rooms pre-refurbishment with the red fluffy carpet and brown/ orange furniture.